Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-09-03
HOW TO TELL YOUR SILVER.
Some Severe Ordeals to Which Makers of
Plate Are Compelled to Submit.

Some Severe Ordeals to Which Makers of
Plate Are Compelled to Submit.
Articles of plate are exempted from the
makers capricious desire to see his mark
upon his goods. The Goldsmiths' Company,
associated as early as 1927, regularly incorpo-
rated seventy years later, in the reign of
Richard II, at present undertakes this duty.
AS the law now stands all articles of plate
manufactured in or near London must be
sent to Goldsmiths' Hall, to be tested and to
be marked. For this assay they receive from
the manufacturers fees amounting to some
$25, 900 or $50, 900 year, and from the govern
ment fixed salary for collecting the excise
duty on gold and silver and paying it into
the Bank of England. The assayers exercise
their functions with skill and impartiality.
Small particles are scraped off the goods to
be submitted to test, and these are duly
analysed. The assayers do not know, and
are not allowed to know from whose manu-
featured goods the particles have been
scraped off, but additional severity in the
test is adopted where any manufacturer is
found to have often sent goods below the
standard.
The marks adopted by the Goldsmiths'
Hall are five in number, and each has its
own special significance. There is the SOW
ereign's head, which indicates plainly enough
the reign. Next follows the lion PEASANT !;
this is the standard mark, and is known to
have been in use at the commencement of
Queen Elizabeths reign, but was probably
introduced in Henry WIS. The price
mark is impressed next to it, and was fixed
by one of those numerous acts which were
passed in William HIS reign to regulate and
improve the condition Of coinage Two
other impressions remain unaccounted for.
One is the leopard's head, which is par ex-
cellence the Hall mark, and the other is the
makers mark, W h, from long custom, is
added to the remaining four. But the period
of the manufacture is not left to the mere
vagueness of the sovereign's reign. The
date letter" supplies the missing informa-
ton. Twenty letters Of the alphabet are used
for this purpose, the series beginning with
the first, emitting J. and terminating with U.
On the Both of May every letter is changed
and the shape of the letter every twenty
years. Thus from 1876 to 1916 ordinary
capitals were employed. The letter D would
indicate that the article passed the Gold
smiths Hall in 1879. With 1916 commenced
the series of small letters, so that date
letter of d would fix the year as 1920. Old
English capitals followed till 1856, and the
letters. These various alphabets are of very
old date, the earliest commencing with the
year 1438. But though London is the chief
seat of manufacture of plate in England,
there were other towns which had their own
assay offices and halls. Birmingham and
Sheffield did large trade, and constant re-
lations were established between the local
hall and Foster lane. For this purpose
what was called ''diet box'' passed at the
end of the year from the country town to
the capital. The assayer in Birmingham
scraped eight grains from every troy pound
of manufactured plate Four of these he at
once retained and assayed the other moiety
was carefully deposited in the diet box,
which contained specimens from all the
articles manufactured. Once a year the box
was sent up to the capital. The assay master
of the royal mint would then take a fair
average of all the small portions it contained
and solemnly make his assay. If the aver
age reached the standard, the local assayer
received certificate; if not he was fined.
1t will thus be seen that there IS clear
difference in theory between the marks on
plate and on china. The latter are impressed
by the manufacturer, at his own choice and
for his own benefit The former are COM
pulsory, undertaken by monopolist COM
pany, who are paid for their services, which
the public are forced to accept at their hands,
The distinction suggests not merely import
ant privileges, but grave duties. We have
seen within the last few years the taste for
Queen Anne furniture and for antiquities of
all kinds spread into the region of plate and
silverware. Forthwith the curiosity shops
seem to have been largely stocked with the
rarest and most desirable pieces of old silver
The connoisseur, naturally at once wary and
confiding, has found security in the hall
mark. That secured the genuineness of what
had become suspciously plentiful. And so
with simple trust he bought largely and was
largely swindled In some cases the marks
were forged; in others genuine marks were
inserted into modern plate. Imposture pro-
ceeded on so extensive scale that the Gold
smiths company have at last awakened to
the Importance of the subject and are re-
solved to put down the imposture. 1t is well
to get this assurance even now. But it comes
rather late. In their own interests, in the
interest of the public, and as a slight duty
arising from a substantial privilege, the
Goldsmiths' company should long ago have
shown this activity.-Jewelry NelOS.